Burch: Let the bigotry and chauvinism games commence!

Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 10:05pm

By Michael R. Burch

If there was an Olympics for bigotry and chauvinism, Tennesseans might sweep gold, silver and bronze.

Among the favorites would be the man with the most recognizable name in country music, Hank Williams Jr., who recently told a crowd of cheering fans, “We have a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S., and we hate him!” In his most famous song, Bocephus bragged, “I got girls that can cook, I got girls that can clean, I got girls that can do anything in between.”

Not far behind is David Fowler, the president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, who recently said that the solution to people becoming dependent on food stamps is to put up a sign: “Do not feed the animals.”

Retiring Southern Baptist chief ethicist Richard Land, always a strong contender, is certainly in the medal hunt after calling black religious leaders “race hustlers” and other provocative names on his Richard Land Live! radio show. Unfortunately, charges of plagiarism continue to weigh him down a bit.

A dark horse candidate might be Murfreesboro Baptists who erected 13 white crosses in a field across from the new Islamic Center, in what seems to be an attempt to intimidate Muslims.

But Tennesseans will face fierce competition in the battles of bigots and chauvinists for worldwide supremacy. Here are some of the other main contenders:

Rick Santorum, a perennial contender, remains a strong frontrunner with his suggestions that rape victims should consider their rapists’ fetuses as “gifts” from God and that American women who use contraceptives are followers of Satan.

Michelle Bachmann and her husband cannot be ignored, with their “pray away the gay” exorcism business and her comments about homosexuals being “part of Satan.”

Missouri Rep. Todd Akin left women’s brains aching when, in arguing against abortion under any circumstances, he said that it is “really rare” for rape to result in pregnancies because in “legitimate rape” the “female body has ways to shut that whole thing down.”

Akin’s choice of words suggests that there are “illegitimate” forms of rape, for which the victims are either fully or partially responsible. This would seem to put the onus on rape victims to somehow prove their rapes were “legitimate” before seeking abortions. Like so many Republican male chauvinists these days, Akin seems to have little or no concern for the rape victim’s rights or their physical health and mental well being.

Like Akin, GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan co-sponsored the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which in its original form included an exemption for “forcible rape.” The idea seems to be that rapes are not “legitimate” unless the victims are beaten to pulps and can provide the evidence. In any case, Akin and Ryan seem to be leading the dash to force girls and women to bear their rapists’ babies, and thus must be considered strong candidates for gold and silver.

Like his running mate, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wants to get rid of Planned Parenthood. When asked if the repeal of Roe v. Wade would be a good day for America, Romney responded, “Absolutely.” When asked, “Would you have supported a constitutional amendment that would have established the definition of life at conception?” he again replied, “Absolutely.” While Romney is not as flamboyant a chauvinist as Akin and Ryan, what he lacks in fervor he makes up for in political muscle.

What does all this mean for women?

“Rep. Paul Ryan’s extreme anti-choice record shows just how serious a threat Mitt Romney’s presidency would be for women,” said Nancy Keenan, a women’s rights activist. “He has cast 59 votes on reproductive rights while in Congress and not one has been pro-choice. Rep. Ryan has also repeatedly voted to defund family-planning programs and supported the ‘Let Women Die Bill,’ which would allow hospitals to refuse to provide a woman emergency, lifesaving abortion care, even if she could die without it. The Romney-Ryan ticket is dangerous to women’s health.”

And so, while Tennesseans with sterling credentials remain strong contenders for podium positions, they face stiff competition from better-known bigots and chauvinists like Santorum, Bachmann, Romney and Ryan, and emerging stars like Akin.

Michael R. Burch is a Nashville-based editor and publisher of Holocaust poetry and other “things literary” at www.thehypertexts.com.

183 Comments on this post:

Actually, people with real-world experience and common sense understand that intervention is necessary. The degree of intervention is the issue.

By:BenDover on 8/24/12 at 9:09

I was talking to MusicCity, not you bfra.

But if you must know, it's just gone. Just round that extra $5.5+ Trillion dollars in deficits Obama has run up to $6 Trillion because all of the repayments have been respent. Otherwise they would have reduced the deficits and spending levels would have come back down to almost sanity; but instead it was respent and used as a new year-over-year baseline for spending more of our grandchildren's money.

Buh Bye... outta here... sayonara... ta ta... hasta la vista, baby... another almost half trillion on top of all of the rest of the deficit... g-g-g-g-gone...

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 9:13

Ben - So in other words, you don't even know IF it is gone, WHERE it went or if it did or did not help the economy. You just keep repeating YOUR ideas & like yogi, can offer NO proof.

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 9:13

By: yogiman on 8/24/12 at 7:44
I don't know if it was a Republican of Democrat but I heard a pill has been developed for men to pop to prevent impregnating a woman.

Does that mean a man can rape a woman knowing they won't impregnate her? Can she still accuse him of rape?

And the stupid award goes to one whom the award was named after, old stupid.

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 9:14

Well, gdiafante-

I am no teabagger, trust me. I am actually not opposed to tax increases, and I am a Republican.... just opposed to tax increases for government handouts. Why need use tax revenue and invest more in education for our youth? What is ridiculous is having people like Mike Burch want tax increases to pay for OTHER people's abortions. GIVE ME A BREAK.

I certainly believe in a role for government, but there is a fine line between government surveillance and government interference. Obama is interfering. Ask any small business owner who Obama has said they didn't build that business themselves, and that owner will tell you that Obama's future tax increases, over-regulation, and Obamacare are preventing them from expanding. All of those problems = GOVERNMENT INTERFERNCE

As the housing crisis- Bill Clinton mandated commercial lenders to make subprime loans. While the intentions were good, his interference was devastating. Loans were made to people who would NEVER qualify for a loan, and what happened? They defaulted.

You can blame wall street all you want for bundling up the subprime loans into CMBS and selling to investors, but blame also needs to go to ratings agencies that rated this securities as AAA, the bankers themselves, and the clinton AND Bush administrations for mandating (interfering) subprime loans.

By:pswindle on 8/24/12 at 9:16

I do not understand why Hank, Jr. has not been arrested. He has lost his mind. Mike, you did the perfect job in descripting the GOP. It has taken President Obama these first four years trying to keep us from going over the cliff, and he is in a position to make the country grow and the GOP knows this. He has done this without the help of the GOP. They have blocked everything that he has proposed. Mitt and Paul are about as mean and full of lies as anyone that I have ever listened to. Mitt tries to tell us he is a good man of faith, and he lies almost with everty breath. The just released info on his tax haven shows that he lied about not being involved with Bain since 1999.

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 9:16

I meant to say "Why not use tax revenue and invest more in education"

By:BenDover on 8/24/12 at 9:17

No actually it is gone bfra... where it went is what we all should be asking.

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 9:17

By: Blanketnazi2 on 8/24/12 at 8:30
Sounds like yogi knows A LOT about rape.....

Just ask any of his farm animals.

By:BenDover on 8/24/12 at 9:19

Hank Jr. has had brain damage since he took a fall rock climbing when he was in his 30's if I remember correctly.

By:govskeptic on 8/24/12 at 9:21

Just like the contents of his 2 self-serving books, the NY Times is reporting
that 70% of President Obama Twitter followers are fake. Fake this, fake that
are all over this guy. "2016-You don't know him".

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 9:26

By: BenDover on 8/24/12 at 10:17

No actually it is gone bfra... where it went is what we all should be asking.
================================
Then you should be able to show where it went & for what, Otherwise, as I said you are just a yogi repeat with no proof or knowledge.

By:dargent7 on 8/24/12 at 9:26

Barack Obama is damaged goods. Just like Jimmy Carter.
He will never bring the country back together. Another 4 years of this sh**? For what? Principle?
No one will.
So, give it to the "Two White Guys in a Truck" to attempt it, so at least the people will not raise questions about their nationality, religion, faith, skin color, DNA, birth cert., college transcripts, paternity, height, etc.
Obama won, decisively. And we, as a country, killed him. We spent the whole 3.5 years trying to destroy him. So, guess what? We succeded.
It's on us. If R & R win, they'll say for 4 years, "It was Obama's policies that we're trying to fix". Just like Obama is saying, "8 years of Bush is what we're trying to make right".
It's a Twlight Zone episode all over again, and again....

By:gdiafante on 8/24/12 at 9:28

Obama is interfering. Ask any small business owner who Obama has said they didn't build that business themselves, and that owner will tell you that Obama's future tax increases, over-regulation, and Obamacare are preventing them from expanding.

It sounds like you didn't understand his comments. I thought he explained it well...people have help along the way, if you're a small business, you're taking advantage of a system and infrastructure that was put in place by...wait for it...the government. When did it become a sin to acknowledge that? Because we have paved roads, does that make us a Communist nation? GIVE ME A BREAK, indeed.

Recent history has shown that if, banks especially, regulations are eased, they will abuse the system. That's a fact. I find it completely ridiculous that there were no prosecutions after the Wall Street meltdown.

You can argue business are sitting on money because they're uncertain about the future, but the cause of that uncertainty, well it could be many things...Obama, Europe, the state of healthcare, brinksmanship in Congress, the drought, the changing workforce, technology...I could go on, but I think you get the drift.

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 9:30

Ben regarding your 9:05 post; you need to tell that to the Republicans Party they are the ones calling for his head, not the Democrats. They want him to stay.

By:gdiafante on 8/24/12 at 9:31

That may be the lamest argument for Romney that I've heard so far, darge. Appease the idiot birthers so you don't have to hear their whining. Way to cave, man.

By:BenDover on 8/24/12 at 9:33

No I'm not bfra. It was objectively respent. If it went into the general fund and was spent on wholly legitimate expenditures it still adds almost a half trillion to the amount of money Obama has blown over the ridiculous level of spending we have now.

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 9:38

Ben - No I'm not bfra. It was objectively respent.
===================================
Where & When & on WHAT? Ever hear of put up or shut up? Then why are you hesitating to show your proof?

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 9:38

Damn Ben you are beginning to sound like a younger version of a yogi. Please don’t.

By:gdiafante on 8/24/12 at 9:41

Did miss something? Is the President authorized to spend money? I thought that the chain of command was Treasury then Congress. Treasury collects, reports to Congress who then allocates. Was TARP written differently?

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 9:41

By: MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 9:39
Mike Burch-

Where is your criticism of Al Franken when he wrote many rape jokes as a writer for Saturday Night Live?

I did not know that Mike Burch was writing for the NCP the. Come to think about it I did not know the CP was in business then.

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 9:45

By: BenDover on 8/24/12 at 10:09

Buh Bye... outta here... sayonara... ta ta... hasta la vista, baby... another almost half trillion on top of all of the rest of the deficit... g-g-g-g-gone...

See this is what I am talking about. lol

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 9:50

By: BenDover on 8/24/12 at 10:09

Buh Bye... outta here... sayonara... ta ta... hasta la vista, baby... another almost half trillion on top of all of the rest of the deficit... g-g-g-g-gone...
============================================
Nemo - Translated, that means, I don't know what I am talking about, but repeating TARP under every topic makes it sound like I do.

By:Mike Burch on 8/24/12 at 10:01

dargent7,

You surprised me with:

I don't think the country is ready for black people in the W.H. Plain and simple. It's too much of a strain on people's minds and souls.

With so much "strain" should white people be able to send people with darker skin back to the slave shanties? It seems to me that we we either need to live up to our national creed of equality for everyone, or be honest and admit that we're a nation like Nazi Germany, where the pale-skinned Aryans rule over everyone else.

I'm in favor of equality, myself.

Mike

By:BenDover on 8/24/12 at 10:04

President gets blamed for his deficits GD. That's just how it goes.

TARP has been largely repaid on his watch so it should have reduced the deficits. It didn't... basic budget math. So in addition to the ridiculous deficits they also spent the TARP repayments that should have reduced the deficits if not respent.

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 10:08

Ben you offer no proof, evidently because you can't! Yogi, jr. is a very apt handle for you.

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 10:08

It is easier for people to hate, than try to change. Just because the “N” word is not said in today’s world, instead we have words like Birther, Muslim and Communist in its place. But I don’t think it will be long before it will be spoken in the open and not whispered in the shadows much longer.

By:Mike Burch on 8/24/12 at 10:08

gdiafante ,

I agree that one of our biggest problems is right-wing pundits appealing to the baser instincts of a gullible public. Now we have Hank Williams Jr. inflaming crowds at state fairs. They are stirring up passions the way fascists of the past stirred up passions in Germany.

Mike

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 10:10

By: BenDover on 8/24/12 at 10:19
Hank Jr. has had brain damage since he took a fall rock climbing when he was in his 30's if I remember correctly.

Ben, are you telling us that all of the others mention in Burch’s Column have some sort of brain damage?

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 10:10

Mike - I think d7 was being sarcastic.

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 10:15

By: BenDover on 8/24/12 at 11:04
President gets blamed for his deficits GD. That's just how it goes.

TARP has been largely repaid on his watch so it should have reduced the deficits. It didn't... basic budget math. So in addition to the ridiculous deficits they also spent the TARP repayments that should have reduced the deficits if not respent.

Ben, could it because the Party of No has done everything in their power to keep Obama from bettering America.

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 10:19

Nemo - Ben can't say how much was repaid, who repaid it, or where it went. He is like a 1 trick pony, TARP, TARP, TARP.

By:Mike Burch on 8/24/12 at 10:22

blanketnazi2,

You asked:

What ever happened to the moderate, sane Republicans?

I believe members of Ronald Reagan's family have pointed out that he couldn't get elected today. The party has literally gone mad. Every plank in its platform is based on insane ideas. Thus we have legislation for guns in bars, guns in parks, guns in parking lots, women being forced to give birth to children they don't want and can't afford, etc.

The simplest solution is to vote for Democrats until the GOP finds its lost marbles. If Republicans start losing elections, they will have to change their insane policies.

Mike

By:Mike Burch on 8/24/12 at 10:31

BenDover,

The GOP's position is MORE EXTREME than Akin's. The party itself just announced that it wants to ban ALL abortions without exemptions. This has been the party's stance since 2004, so it's nothing new.

When people like Romney and Ryan roll their eyes at Akin's comments, they are just playing for the camera. ALL the leading Republican candidates for president at one time or another have said they favor banning abortion across the board. Akin and Santorum are just a bit more honest about their beliefs.

The GOP is clearly moving toward not only banning abortion, but many types of contraceptives, such as the morning after pill. The idea is that God determines when babies must be born, and human beings cannot interfere with the "will of God." This is the stance of the Vatican. Now right-wing Protestants are aligning with the Vatican, in the attempt to unseat President Obama.

None of these alpha male chauvinists give a damn about women, so they will sell American women down the river in order to win the upcoming election. It's a calculated gamble that losing the votes of some women will result in more votes and money from the GOP's power base of religious fanatics.

Mike

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 10:39

BenDover-

Don't bother with bfra.

Bfra-

I feel like if you changed Barrack Obama's name to Karl Dean, you would hate him.

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 10:55

"The simplest solution is to vote for Democrats until the GOP finds its lost marbles. If Republicans start losing elections, they will have to change their insane policies. "

Mike

Is anyone else reading this? How conceited are you, Mike? While I am a republican and agree with you that some republicans are overboard with abortion comments, your pompous attitude is sickening. Your solution is to force your ideas over other people's until they have to change. Last week you "attempted" to use another scare tactic (albeit an awful, awful attempt) by comparing Romney to Hitler. However saying "The simplest solution is to vote for Democrats until the GOP finds its lost marbles. If Republicans start losing elections, they will have to change their insane policies" is much more resemblant of Hitler's vision than anyone else's I've read here.

Time to look in the mirror. Both Democrats and republicans are insane.

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 11:12

MusicCity615 - No, unlike you, I am not a Karl suck-up! Plus, you make even less sense than yogi & Ben.

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 11:13

MusicCity615 - BTW, Isn't it time for you to go to lunch?

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 11:18

MusicCity615 when are you Republicans going to take back the Party? You let Atwater and Ginrich lead you toward victory, but at the cost of GOP principles. When the Democrat defection of the 50’s has now become the Republican Neocons / Tea Party, has changed the GOP more into a White Supremacist Group, than an American institute.

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 11:20

bfra- everything you post makes everyone else on here do face palm.

Your insults sound like they are coming from an 8 year old, too.

By:gdiafante on 8/24/12 at 11:21

President gets blamed for his deficits GD. That's just how it goes.

I asked for proof, not "that's how it goes". If Congress controls the purse strings, hold them accountable. Blaming someone incorrectly to score election points is pretty pathetic.

By:gdiafante on 8/24/12 at 11:23

I'd have to agree with Nemo on this one, MusicCity. If you know you're party is being hijacked, stop blaming the Democrats and take your party back. Hell, I used to relate somewhat to the GOP but they are off the rails.

And, for some reason, they keep pandering to the tea baggers and religious right. I don't get it. I suppose that 2010 gave them confidence that it was the right move...It's hard to believe...

By:bfra on 8/24/12 at 11:27

MusicCity615 - Truth & facts are not insults!

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 11:27

Nemo-

There is a young generation of republicans who are fiscally conservative and sociably liberal.

There are nuts on the republican side via the rape / abortion controversy, and there are nuts on the democratic side, via "let's have rich people pay for other people's abortions".

We need to have a president who is actually bipartisan, not claiming to be bipartisan. Barrack Obama claimed to be bipartisan, yet this country is more divided than I've ever seen. He and Mike Burch's solution, ignore people's honest opinions, whether they are right or wrong, and force our principles upon them because WE think they are right.

Is that the American way?

Obama had his chance at bipartisanship. I want someone else.

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 11:30

BFRA-

what truths and facts are you referring to? you are asking BenDover to explain where nearly a trillion dollars of taxpayer money went? Do you seriously expect an answer? The fact that TARP was paid back and our deficit did not go down means that the money was NOT spend on deficit reduction but went somewhere else. The fact that NO ONE KNOWS where that money actually is means that WE DO KNOW it did not reduce our deficit! How hard is this FACT for you to understand?

as far as your insults, calling me a Dean suckup, and 'time to go to lunch'... those are the 8 year old insults.

By:gdiafante on 8/24/12 at 11:31

There is a young generation of republicans who are fiscally conservative and sociably liberal.

A very silent group.

There are nuts on the republican side via the rape / abortion controversy, and there are nuts on the democratic side, via "let's have rich people pay for other people's abortions".

Yep, both sides have fringe elements. Guess which one has taken over their party?

We need to have a president who is actually bipartisan, not claiming to be bipartisan.

They all claim to be that and aren't. There is no indication from Romney that he would be any different. In fact, he's pandered to the far right compared with his record. So if you hold Obama accountable for being something he's not, where is your ire at Romney?

This is the problem with politics...what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander.

By:MusicCity615 on 8/24/12 at 11:40

GD-

Romney is a moderate and is disguising himself as a far right conservative. My proof? Look at his record. Mass legalized gay marriage, did he try to repeal that like santorum would? I honestly could be wrong, but I don't think so.

He was in favor as governor for a woman's right to choose. Did he suddenly jump ship once he was elected governor and change is stance? I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

A very silent group we are, but we are growing and will be in full force in a few years; and no the right wing nut jobs have not TAKEN OVER the republican party, they have taken over the liberal media headlines. What is in the majority of the republican party are people tired of all Obama's spending, tired of his stimulus, tired of his talk but no "change".

By:Captain Nemo on 8/24/12 at 11:44

If the Democratic was smart, (which I have my doubts they are) they would go courting the Moderate and Conservatives of the GOP. I mean the ones that will listen to an argument, rather than just being quarrelsome on every subject.

What I am seeing in the GOP is a party that has become somewhat more divide in substance. A party that has become more diversifies into many segments, ranging far from the party that Ragan had built. Diversity has something that the GOP is not use to demonstrating and can’t get their hands on it. The Democrats are use to diversity and manage to dysfunction very well with it. lol

However DNC have lost their way and seem to lose their backbone too or they would have been doing new thing as I have mention. Instead they seem to take the safe way and let the GOP screw themselves.

By:Mike Burch on 8/24/12 at 11:48

BenDover,

Well, maybe bashing his brains to pulp while rock-climbing, and a lifetime of alcohol and drug abuse, give Hank Williams Jr. an excuse for acting like a fool.

But what excuse do Romney, Ryan, Santorum, Bachmann, Palin, Akiin, and hundreds of other rich, privileged Republicans have?

Could it be that less intelligent people are highly susceptible to believing things that aren't true? It seems the GOP has become a lunatic asylum, with the blind leading the blind down the path to destruction.

Mike

By:Mike Burch on 8/24/12 at 11:52

Nemo,

Perhaps this time the Democrats will take advantage of Republican insanity to form a more sane coalition.

If the Democrats can't figure out how to defeat a party composed of morons who constantly shoot themselves in their feet of clay, it will be like the Titans losing to a team of kindergartners.